Increasingly, the healthcare industry is turning to electronic medical devices to assist patients and healthcare providers manage chronic diseases. For example, a diabetes patient may carry a blood glucose meter, an insulin pump, and/or a continuous glucose meter as part of the patient's medical treatment. Furthermore, the care provider of the patient may utilize disease management software that tracks one or more patients' data. For instance, in the context of a diabetes patient, the disease management software can be configured to synchronize with one or more of the patient's medical devices and to obtain data relating to the patient's management of diabetes. The disease management system can obtain past blood glucose readings, recent insulin dosage amounts, meal histories and any other pertinent data. This information can help a treating physician make diagnoses and treatment decisions for the patient.
The disease management software may also be utilized to configure the patient's medical device. For instance, the disease management software can be configured to change parameters relating to the structured testing of a patient. The disease management software utilizes the communication path between the medical device and device hosting the disease management software, e.g., a computer of the healthcare provider, to communicate the new parameter values to the medical device.
Previously and with respect to configuration medical devices, the reach of disease management software has been limited. Specifically, disease management software is not configured to update the medical device itself. For example, disease management software cannot be used to update the communications protocol of a medical device or to update the operating system of the medical device. Traditionally, a patient would be required to update his or her own device. As many inflicted patients are elderly or children, updating a device can be a difficult task. Furthermore, as these medical devices may become integral to the patient's treatment regimen, a physician may not want to trust a patient to properly configure their own medical devices. Thus, there is a need for a tool that allows the diabetes management software of a healthcare provider to update one or more medical devices.
The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure.